How to install Linked Helper on a VPS / self-managed dedicated server with Ubuntu OS – Linked Helper

Ubuntu can be installed either on VPS or on a dedicated server depending on your needs. For example, a self-managed dedicated server is a good choice if you want to manage many (6 or more) LinkedIn accounts. For a smaller amount of Linked in accounts, a VPS should be enough, just make sure it meets hardware requirements. This article can help marketers to build an army of robots that will be working 24 / 7.

Check these links for instructions on how to rent a VPS / dedicated server on Windows:

More information on hardware requirements, comparison of self-managed dedicated server vs VPS, and Ubuntu vs Windows Server 2019 can be found here.

In this particular example, I rent a VPS. Instructions for a dedicated server would be the same.

Rent a server
Set up a remote connection between your PC and server / VPS on Ubuntu
Install Linked Helper on Ubuntu server

The instruction below assumes that you have neither Ionos nor a Linked Helper 2 account.

Rent a server

Open https://www.ionos.com/servers/vps
Choose the optimal option and click Configure. In this particular case, I will use one LinkedIn account so the VPS L is the optimal choice according to hardware requirements:

Configure your VPS:
- Operating system: Linux.
- System and version management system: If you've chosen Linux, then at this step you need to choose Ubuntu 20.04. Linked Helper works on Ubuntu, but other GNU/Linux distributions like Debian or CentOS are not supported, and even if you have managed to install Linked Helper there we cannot guarantee it will flawlessly work on them.
- Data Center location: as per your wish. I chose Germany for test purposes and because it's the nearest location to me.
- Cloud backup: you can add automatic backups, but in my case, they are not needed.
- Click Continue

Double-check your Cart and if everything is OK click Continue again:

Create a new Ionos account (if you already have an Ionos account, you can use it):

I chose the second option to create a new account:

Fill in the payment details and finish your order.
Later you may need to verify your identity by providing relevant documents to the Ionos security team.

Set up a remote connection between your PC and server / VPS on Ubuntu

Open cloud panel

Once the procedure of verification is finished, you will receive a confirmation letter. Follow the link in the letter or you can simply open My Ionos web page and choose the product:

You will be redirected to the Ionos Cloud panel. Go to Infrastructure => Servers and choose your Server to see more details. You can check the server's status, IP address, Backup if you purchased that option, etc:

Add firewall rule

This rule will allow your xRDP connection we about to set up to go through the provider's firewall. Please:

In the Ionos panel and go to Network > Firewall Policies
Select My firewall policy
Add an Allow rule for TCP protocol with port number 3389

Connect to Ubuntu via Console

In order to do that, please:

Choose your server and click the Actions button:
Click Open remote console:
You will be redirected to the console webpage where you should see a console prompt:
In the console, log in under the default root user, i.e. enter the user name (root in my case) and it's password (Initial Password you have in the cloud panel below User): Please, note that you won't see asterisks as you usually do when typing the password, but this is standard behavior in Ubuntu and other Linux distributions, so just type the password in and press enter button:
Once you're logged in, you will see a command prompt like in the screenshot below.

Create a new non-root user

Linked Helper won't run from the root user, so we need to create another one we use for the tool.

Type adduser lh and hit Enter button to create a user with lh name. You can use another name.
Set user password. Please, note that you won't see asterisks as you usually do when typing the password:
Set up another user info and confirm it. You can skip it by pressing Enter button:
Add newly created user to the sudoers file by typing usermod -aG sudo lh (you might need using another username instead of lh):
Exit from the root user session by the exit command

Install GUI (Graphical User Interface)

Linked Helper 2 needs GUI (Graphical User Interface) to be installed, but Ubuntu Server comes with no GUI, so you need to install one.

Let's log in under a newly created user first:

Enter sudo apt-get update and press enter button. You may need to provide user password again to confirm the installation. Wait till it's finished:
enter sudo apt install tasksel dialog аnd press the Enter button. You may need to press the Enter again to confirm the installation:
enter sudo tasksel and press enter button:
using the Arrow down button, navigate to the GNOME option:
then press Space button to choose the option (mark by asterisk):
then press Tab button to move the red selection to the Ok option below and press Enter button to start the installation process:

Install xRPD

When GUI is installed, you should be able to log in via it through the Concole method described above, but it does not always work.

It's better to install xRDP that will allow you to connect to the server using Microsoft RDP. To do that, please, enter the commands below the same way you did previously:

install xRDP by entering sudo apt install xrdp -y
add xrdp user to certificate group by sudo adduser xrdp ssl-cert
enable ubuntu firewall and allow xrdp in firewall
- sudo ufw allow from any to any port 3389
- sudo ufw enable
restart xRDP by sudo systemctl restart xrdp
reboot the server by entering sudo reboot now

Connect via xRDP and install Linked Helper

Now you can connect to the server via any RDP client using the IP of the server that can be found in Ionos panel and login and password of newly created user.

Once you're successfully logged in via GUI, you need to install Linked Helper the same way you do that on a local PC:

Open Firefox browser, navigate to our website, and click Login:
Create a new account or log in into an already existing one
Go to Install the app menu in the upper left corner and click Install for Ubuntu:
Click Show Apps button in the bottom left corner of your VPS, find and open Terminal
Copy the first command and paste the first command into the Terminal, enter your user password (the one you created during setup after the GUI was installed), no asterisks will be displayed as in the case when we first logged in:
Copy and paste the second command:
Copy and paste the third command. You will see a warning once it is executed, but you can ignore it:
Copy and paste the forth command. Once it is completed, Linked Helper is installed:
Click Show Apps button in the bottom left corner of your VPS, find and open Linked Helper 2
Log in to your LInked Helper account:
Add a LinkedIn account as per this article: LinkedIn Accounts menu (p. Add a new LinkedIn account)
If you already worked with Linked Helper on another PC, you can move the data from the local PC to VPS if needed: How to backup & restore your Linked Helper data